My Daughter's Hair Is Crazy Long & I Will Never Cut It

Every time my son gets a haircut, I cry. I know it's weird and I never really expect it, but my son always looks so different, like such a big boy, after a haircut that it forces me to look at him in a new way. I hate that. This is why my daughter, now 4.5, has only had one haircut her whole life.

Of course, she has seen Rapunzel and she loves her long hair, but it's really my problem that it's down to her butt now. I just can't bear to part with any of it. Besides I love it.

So I related to the 11-year-old girl dubbed the "real life Rapunzel" by The Daily Mail. This is totally going to be my kid, but really it's me who is obsessed with her hair, not my daughter.

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Maybe it's because my mother always made me cut my hair. All the women in our family are blessed with very thick, naturally wavy hair, which, as adults, is a huge bonus. But as children, the hair is hard to control, painful to brush, and generally a huge pain to manage.

My hair often looked like a cross between a Brillo pad and a bird's nest. And my daughter's hair can look just as crazy. It's a lot of work to make sure it's brushed every day (we spend a fortune on detangler), and I almost always pull it back to keep it out of her eyes.

She hates having it brushed and screams and screams. Almost every morning I ask myself why I don't just cut it all off. But there is something soothing about brushing it once all the tangles are out. I could do it all day. And then there is the braiding.

My mother was the one mom who could never do French braids, and as a kid, I promised that wouldn't be me. So I French braid her hair all the time.

Would she like to cut off her hair? Never. But it would make our lives easier. Still, I know I will never push the issue because, in the end, as much as she loves her hair long, I think I love it more.